THE HAGUE–The Dutch Caribbean Committee for Financial Supervision CFT will hold a symposium in Curaçao on June 22 titled “Moving forward together in the Kingdom” in connection with the farewell of Chairman Age Bakker and members Alberto Romero and Hyden Gittens.
The symposium features two speakers: former President of the Joint Court of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba Professor Jaime Saleh, and former Chairman of the Permanent Committee for Kingdom Relations of the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament and former Judge at the Joint Court of Justice of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba in Oranjestad Jeroen Recourt. Saleh is widely regarded as an expert in the area of constitutional affairs and Kingdom relations, while Recourt has ample experience with political dimensions in the Kingdom.
Moderator at the event will be Rector of the University of Aruba and former Bonaire Island Governor Dr. Glenn Thodé. At the symposium, which also serves to observe the existence of the CFT for almost ten years, the new CFT Chairman per July 1, Professor Dr. Raymond Gradus will be introduced to the invited guests. “I very much look forward to the symposium,” said departing CFT Chairman Bakker.
The CFT and the Kingdom have a lot to do with each other. “The CFT is a binding factor in the Kingdom and what the Kingdom stands for,” said Bakker. “Shared norms and values bind us in the Kingdom. As the CFT, we are looking at the financial norms. Together with the islands we are striving for financial stability. We want the islands to do well.”
Bakker explained that the supervision carried out by the CFT and financial stability were also in the interest of Curaçao and St. Maarten because the countries are able to borrow via the Netherlands when they have their finances in order instead of taking more expensive loans on the international market. This advantage represents more or less 1.5 per cent of the Gross National Product on an annual basis.
“How can we deepen and improve the cooperation within the Kingdom? That is what we will look at during the symposium. We have a number of new Governments in the Kingdom. Curaçao just got a new Government, while Aruba will have elections in a few months, and there are formation talks for a new Government in the Netherlands. This is an opportune moment to discuss how we go from here, to give a new impulse to cooperation and strengthen the added value of being partners in one Kingdom,” Bakker told The Daily Herald.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/67038-cft-symposium-to-focus-on-kingdom
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